A long road trip resulted in KUA’s first win of the season. The team was without several players due to injury, SAT exams, and personal business. Luckily, Leo Barta joined us for a second game to help shore up the team, this time at midfield. This still left the Wildcats with only one extra player. Jason Cheng provided much welcomed relief at different positions as most of the players went the full seventy minutes. Charles Tong and Aiden Bean held off a very game Cushing side that ran hard the whole game. A scintillating goal from Cushing’s best player quickly had KUA down 0-1 at the ten-minute mark. Bleyton Hopps-Thompson, clearly feeling more comfortable in his second try at goalkeeper, made several key stops to help keep the score low on the Cushing side. About twenty minutes in, Daniel Pimentel made a hard run at goal and shot a ball that the Cushing goalie could not control, and Alvaro Campos came in for the cleanup goal. KUA went ahead just before the half when Leo Barta took a direct kick from near midfield that sailed over the Cushing keeper’s head for a near perfect goal.

The second half saw a charged-up Cushing side come at KUA hard, but Jason Cheng and Angus Spence kept the ball moving up field, Sebastian Keen stayed strong on defense, and Daniel Pimentel was able to capitalize for his own solo goal. Cushing came roaring back and scored a goal with less than ten minutes left to bring the score to 3-2. In the final two minutes, Cushing had an opportunity to tie the game, but Bleyton’s steely glare must have made the Cushing player nervous as he slammed the ball well over the goal, thus missing his opportunity at a hat-trick and a tied score. KUA then easily controlled the ball to close out the final seconds.